Wednesday, February 2, 2011

A sharp knife will cut, one that is not is more likely to slip and cause an unnecessary accident. Once you experience using sharp knives, you will never go back.There are people we know who bring their own knives to dinner parties since they know they will eventually be asked to cook. It's just alot easier.

It's a passion.

We recently were in dire need of getting our knives sharpened; but where?? A local shop, though handy, didn't really provide the quality nor the longevity in sharpness that we felt our investment was worth. So we ended up using our steel more and more. The more we used our steel the more frustrated we became in trying to find someone to do justice to our precious tools. On a lark one Sunday night, we just typed in "Knife Sharpening, Toronto" and BOOM!! Major score! Ivan Fonseca's site is dedicated to the fine art of sharpening the knife. Ivan is a true master who over night took good care of our "babies", returning them as promised to better than factory sharpness.

Along the way he told me of his passions for knives and their care as well as informing me that this interest originally started with his grandfather, a woodworker, who preferred Japanese tools. Obviously the knives he works with and has a preference for are of Japanese origin. Ivan, an accomplished cook, began studying the art of sharpening during his stay in Vancouver where he was first introduced to Japanese knives, and how to sharpen them using traditional methods. He now relies and gets inspiration from Katana Togoshi, or Japanese sword polishing/sharpening techniques. Respect for the knife is paramount for him.

We like this. His skill has returned hugely neglected knives, like the one above, back to better than superior condition. Ivan tells us this one was brought to him with a broken tip and much rusting. As you can see from the picture this beautiful instrument, after a custom polishing, was returned to the owner, who must have been hugely grateful, and for which Ivan is equally proud.

Along with colleague Olivia Go, also an acclaimed chef, they are part of Tosho Knife Arts , a new web store offering the best in hand-crafted Japanese knives right here in Toronto.

We very much look forward to contacting Ivan again and seeing what is on offer there. He has promised us that once one uses one of his Japanese knives (which are not as expensive as one might think), we will have a hard time going back. Like we said....it's a passion.